Publisher's Summary

Debra Traverso tells you how to prepare for the surprises most likely to throw small businesses off course. She helps you anticipate both predictable hurdles and devastating ordeals, so that no crisis will catch you off guard. No need to waste emotions, time, and money when a crisis hits: you can get a good night's sleep!

I read the abstract and invested in listening to the audio preview. I also made my decision to purchase this book based on the availability date of 2008. The title immediately compelled me to purchase it.

I made it half-way through before I had to stop. The reader wasn't the problem. The author spends time so much time with lists of 'Why', 'How', 'If', and 'What' that there was no substance. The book becomes list, after list, after list. I was patient hoping that this rhetoric would cease and I would be given examples and how-to, but no. In fact, I got a little depressed answering no to 'Do you have a map of the floodplain for your office?' and 'Where are your extra diskettes to back up your critical data?', 'Do you have extra potable water if you are stranded in your office for an extended period of time?' and on and on.

The examples that are obviously based upon a corporate and executive level risk planning background have little context to a small business. Maybe I miss understood the author's meaning of small business or her definition of small company, but the examples she cites are from large corporate companies. The operational and business management structures she suggests are so out of context that I started to question if her stated ownership of past small businesses was actually true.

Alas, I feel her effort was well placed and she certainly attempted to provide a book that would benefit small business owners. I own two small businesses and I did try to finish this book. I'm sorry but I could not.

Maybe an update for 2009 or revision with the assistance of a small business would help.

Finally, many of the examples are very dated and do not represent the current economic climate nor the financial challenges of today's small businesses.